MINUTES BIG LOTTERY FUND MEETING OF THE SCOTLAND COMMITTEE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2017 AT 10:00AM AT BLF OFFICES, PACIFIC HOUSE, 70 WELLINGTON

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1 MINUTES BIG LOTTERY FUND MEETING OF THE SCOTLAND COMMITTEE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2017 AT 10:00AM AT BLF OFFICES, PACIFIC HOUSE, 70 WELLINGTON St, GLASGOW G2 6UA Present: Maureen McGinn Grant Carson Stella Everingham Iain Gordon Shalani Raghavan Deirdre Robertson John Watt Chair of Scotland Committee In attendance: Martin Cawley Director, Scotland Rona Alexander Head of Funding (items 1-12) Denise Burns Policy & Learning Adviser (items 12-13) Roddy Byers Head of Funding Helen Curry Funding Officer (item 13) Fiona Grant Corporate Officer (Governance) (minutes) Mark Hilton Business Advice Manager (Capital) (item 13) Alastair Jackson Communications Manager (items 1-6) Pauline Kerrigan Funding Manager (items 12-13) Allison Mathews Senior Policy & Learning Manager (items 12-13) Mhairi Reid Policy & Learning Adviser (item 9) Neil Ritch Deputy Director Carolyn Sawers Head of Policy and Learning Guests: Dawn Austwick Chief Executive (items 1-13) 1. OPENING REMARKS 1.1 The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted the following: i. Dawn Austwick will be observing the meeting ii. Mhairi Reid will join the meeting for the Our Place discussion 2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 2.1 There were apologies from Kirsty Nairn and Emma Whitfield. Page 1 of 6

2 3. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS 3.1 Maureen McGinn declared an interest in the application from WEvolution as she knows the Chair, Liz Cameron, who is a former Scotland Committee member and the Chief Officer, Noel Mathias and has been instrumental in connecting this organisation to other key stakeholders in the past. Her husband spoke at their first annual conference and she has been informally mentoring one of the members of staff. It was agreed that this is a disqualifying interest. 3.2 Iain Gordon declared an interest in the application from WEvolution as the Bethany Christian Trust supports 2 Self Reliant Groups (SRG) which partner with them. As this results in no gain to Bethany or Iain personally it was decided that this was not a disqualifying interest. 3.3 Deirdre Robertson informed the meeting that she has joined the board of Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association. This will be added to her declaration of interest record. Action, Corporate Officer, Governance 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SCOTLAND COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 8 MARCH 2017 (SCOTLAND COMMITTEE MINUTES P17/02) 4.1 With the following amendments the minutes were approved as an accurate record: i. 4.1.i Officers responded that being involved in a SLF decision in his role as Chair which precedes a GCA or other application is declarable but not disqualifying as previous involvement with an organisation may inform judgement but there is no personal gain. ii The winning projects will be announced on 6 th April. Any feedback on the films would be welcome. Members requested that they would like a reminder about the films closer to the time. 5. MATTERS ARISING 5.1 The Committee noted the update on the UK Board meeting that had taken place on 28 th March The Chair gave an update on the UKFC meeting that had taken place on the back of the Board meeting on 28 th March. The Committee noted that positive progress continues to be made in line with the Strategic Framework. The UKFC also made a number of funding decisions including on some International projects. The Chair informed the meeting that Stella Everingham will replace her as the Scotland representative at future UKFC meetings. 5.3 Stella Everingham gave some feedback on the Community Led Delegated decision meeting she attended which the Committee noted. 5.4 John Watt asked if the Committee s decision to just fund the petrol station element of the Newcastleton Community Development Trust proposal affects the offer made to the organisation by the Scottish Government s Regeneration Fund. Officers responded that by this won t stop the project going ahead. Page 2 of 6

3 6. COMMUNICATIONS REPORT (SCOTLAND COMMITTEE P17/12) 6.1 Communications Manager, Alastair Jackson, introduced the paper highlighting the following: i. The advice team has had its busiest month in 3 years with lots of calls, s and people speaking to us at events; we are now in purdah and with the Easter holidays it is significantly quieter ii. The People s Project has been very successful this year with a big increase in votes; votes in Scotland were up by 5000 from last year and 30,000 out of total of 200,000 votes for the whole of the UK were in Scotland iii. There has been lots of media coverage of the winning groups iv. The final GCA awards generated good coverage thanks to the proactive work with new grant holders and the media team; there were some negative articles about two unsuccessful applications; officers have met with both groups. 6.2 The Chair informed the meeting that she had attended at celebratory event at Southside Housing Association following their successful GCA application. She highlighted that the current space is very dilapidated but currently hosts 36 activities. She received a warm welcome from a diverse range of people and was reassured that the community group partnership with the Housing Association seemed genuine and authentic. 6.3 The Director, Scotland informed the meeting that he had met with the Chief Executive of Southside Housing Association and they had talked about reserves and had got a good insight into parts of the work of housing associations. He will also meet with the new Chief Executive of the Scottish Association of Housing Associations once they have been appointed. 7. CHIEF EXECUTIVE UPDATE 7.1 Dawn Austwick gave an update highlighting the following: i. Following year on year reductions in National Lottery revenues seems to have stabilised; it is unclear whether there will be a further fall. ii. There is currently a Government consultation about the betting on the National Lottery iii. All the Lottery Distributors and Camelot are working together on the One National Lottery project which aims to develop a more unified presentation of the National Lottery iv. There is a lot happening with the change agenda in England, which is moving from 2 centres to 6 regional hubs this is a big piece of restructuring; alongside this Awards for All is going digital across all portfolios and there is a joint team working on this v. The work going on in the other country portfolios 7.2 The Committee noted that the Board will meet in Scotland on 27 th and 28 th September and there will be an opportunity for members to be involved in some of the activities taking place. Page 3 of 6

4 8. DIRECTOR S UPDATE (SCOTLAND COMMITTEEE P17/13) 8.1 The Committee noted the Director s update. 9. OUR PLACE UPDATE 9.1 Policy and Learning Officer, Mhairi Reid gave an update on Our Place highlighting the following: i. The background to Our Place ii. What has been happening since the last update iii. The community chest grants have proved popular offering simple funding for grassroots activity with more than 350 things funded iv. How the funding is making a difference in communities and what we are learning from it 9.2 The presentation is attached as Annex A to these minutes. 9.3 During discussion the main points raised were: i. The budget for Our Place is 1.5million for each community; the support contracts run until the end of 2019 ii. There is engagement with other Lottery Distributors in the Our Place areas and area Community Builders often have early conversations with other distributors and try to lever in advice as a minimum 9.4 The Chair thanked Mhairi for her excellent presentation. 10. SCOTLAND COMMITTEE PLANNING (SCOTLAND COMMITTEE P17/14) 10.1 Deputy Director, Neil Ritch introduced the paper highlighting the following: i. Following the Committee Review session in February we have begun to develop proposals to ensure members are more effectively engaged in the Fund s work in Scotland by ensuring more connection with grant holders, stakeholders and the team in Scotland ii. the Committee will have 8 business meetings in 2017/18 with the potential to have an away day or review session during the year iii. the proposed lead member roles should also include Our Place and the Lanarkshire pilot is time limited iv. we are still working up the detail of what the grant holder and stakeholder engagement will look like 10.2 During discussion the main points raised were: i. the lead member role needs to be developed with a role descriptor ii. technology can be used better to engage with and support Committee iii. it would be useful to have themed discussions at Committee meetings a couple of times a year iv. going out on a project visit should have a purpose and give members something to feed back in; members don t just want to meet the people who run the project but also the service users v. sometimes the balance at Committee meetings between strategic discussions and other business isn t quite right Page 4 of 6

5 vi. members were supportive of the direction of travel but would like to have an extended discussion the proposals; it was agreed that this will added to the agenda for the May Scotland Committee meeting Action, Corporate Officer, Governance 11. DISCUSSION ABOUT THE PROPOSED NEW OVERVIEW PAPER 11.1 Head of Funding Roddy Byers informed the meeting that the proposed new overview paper had been previously circulated to members and it will be used from next month It was agreed that members can take stock and give Officers real time feedback on the new paper John Watt informed the meeting that he some comments on the paper that he will submit in writing. Action, John Watt 12. OVERVIEW PAPER (SCOTLAND COMMITTEE P17/15) 12.1 Head of Funding, Roddy Byers introduced the overview paper highlighting the following: i. The current demand for Improving Lives, Community Led, Community Assets and Our Place ii. The indicative budget for this meeting iii. The application from WEvolution will be considered against the budget from financial year 16/17 as the application was deferred at the December Scotland Committee meeting iv. The Improving Lives medium award to the Improvement Service which responds to the CEDAR agenda and will provide opportunities for groups to connect with one another and share information, learning and resources and help groups to raise awareness of the value and impact of the CEDAR model at a local and national level 12.2 Shalani Raghavan highlighted that she would like to learn more about the work of the Improvement Service. ACTION, Corporate Officer, Governance 12.3 Shalani Raghavan informed the meeting that she was unaware that delegated decision making included the authority for purchase and refurbish of buildings. Officers responded that our current approach to delegations, as approved by Committee, does not differentiate between capital and revenue budgets. With Our Place the key driver in our decisions is how far the proposal fits with the priorities set in the community s vision statement. 13. CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS IMPROVING LIVES & COMMUNITY ASSETS 13.1 The Committee noted the tabled questions and answers The decisions are recorded in Annex B to these minutes The Committee agreed that they would like to have a discussion about what we mean by a people led approach at a future Committee meeting. Action, Corporate Officer, Governance Page 5 of 6

6 14. AOB 14.1 The Chair informed the meeting that John Watt has indicated that he will leave the Committee in March 2018 when Shalani Raghavan and Deirdre Robertson also leave. This means that we will be recruiting for 3 new members later this year. 15. DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING 15.1 The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 17 TH May 2017 in Lanarkshire. 16. FINISH 16.1 There being no further business the meeting closed at 2.25pm. Page 6 of 6